Research Papers

Once again the European Union (EU) foreign policy is characterized by a capability-expectations gap: the expectations towards the redesigned High Representative of the Union (HR) are high, with the hope of a single voice representative being able to shape and align the positions of the member states and EU institutions. By contrast, the actual capabilities of the new post are limited, as it is confronted with prerogatives of the European Commission in the field of integrated aspects of external action, while the framework of Common Foreign and Security Policy remains intergovernmental. Hence, reducing the capability-expectations gap is now a matter of political will of member states and the Commission to use the potential of the institutional innovations. For that end, co-leadership of the HR with member states, the European Commission and the European Parliament is needed to provide new momentum to the common foreign policy project. This argument is discussed using three cases that exemplify the post-Lisbon inter-institutional relations (setup of the EEAS, immediate reaction to the crisis in Libya and strategic thinking). The paper is based on 36 interviews with officials, diplomats and members of the European Parliament in Brussels.